Top 10 Medical Events of 2009 →
What’s especially interesting is that your environment, including your lifestyle choices, have a much bigger impact on the expression of your genes than had previously been realized.
Several studies have shown that changing lifestyle causes changes in gene expression, “turning on” genes that prevent chronic diseases and “turning off” oncogenes that promote breast cancer and prostate cancer as well as turning off genes that cause inflammation and oxidative stress, which may be root causes of heart disease and other illnesses.
Equally amazing is that these changes in your genes can be passed down to future generations, a phenomenon known as epigenetic inheritance.
Today, more people are dying in China, India, and parts of Africa from chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes than from AIDS, TB, and malaria combined.
What’s especially unfortunate is that the diet that can prevent and even reverse heart disease is based on the traditional diets in these countries.
Basically, you have a lot more control over your body’s destiny than you think!
